UNION, Ky. – Chris Madden found his way to victory lane Thursday night in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Sunoco North/South Shootout at Florence Speedway.
The win marks the South Carolina native’s first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season and his first ever at Florence Speedway. He becomes the 13th different series winner this year.
Madden started on the pole and faded as far back as fifth in the running order early in the race. Zack Dohm led the first 15 laps of the 50-lap race before Owens charged to the lead on lap 16.
Owens went on to hold a comfortable lead until contact with a lapped car sent him spinning out of the lead with 43 laps scored.
Madden inherited the top spot on the restart and pulled away from Tim McCreadie in the closing laps to pick up the win.
McCreadie, the defending North-South Shootout winner, was second ahead of Dohm, who registered his best career LOLMDS finish in third. Stormy Scott claimed the fourth spot ahead of Kent Robinson.
Admittedly, Madden was worried at the start of the race.
“I went too far on my adjustments, for sure,” noted Madden. “The first 20 laps, I wasn’t as comfortable as I should have been and then searched and found a line that was working. We just hustled the car and got back up there in the thick of things. I got back into second and then Jimmy had a lead on us. I hated to see that happen to him, but am thankful for the win.
“We have been really good in this car,” Madden added. “We now have two wins and a second-place finish. There are a lot of crown jewel races coming up. We got one last week at Cedar Lake and we hope to get one here on Saturday night.”
McCreadie came home in second.
“This surface and the tire rule just suit me really well here. You just can’t run it through the middle; you just have to maneuver it,” said McCreadie. “Jimmy was doing that; he was running halfway through the middle and then on the bottom. Chris was just a little bit better there at the end.
“We tried to run that top, but we just couldn’t make up much time on him.”
Dohm, whose father Tim owns one LOLMDS win, was looking for his first series triumph.
“We seem like we always run good here, but we never have started up front like we did tonight. I was a little shocked when I drove by Chris there at the start and I thought we were setting a pretty pace. I could feel the right rear tire getting hot and it was shoving the car across the track.
“Coming out of here with a third is awesome,” he added. “It was just myself and my brother Nick, so we feel pretty good to run like we did against this caliber of competition.”
The finish:
Chris Madden, Tim McCreadie, Zack Dohm, Stormy Scott, Kent Robinson, Dale McDowell, Jonathan Davenport, Hudson O’Neal, Tyler Erb, Michael Norris, Josh Richards, Shanon Buckingham, Earl Pearson Jr., Billy Green, Kyle Bronson, Jimmy Owens, Mike Benedum, Victor Lee, Devin Moran, Bobby Pierce, Ricky Weiss, Frank Heckenast Jr., Jesse Lay, Jeff Alsip, Scott James, Kyle Strickler, Brandon Overton.